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Yao Wuya
Yao Wuya (姚乌鸦) was and remains one of the most influential people in Xuyanese history, and he isn't even of noble birth. Relationships Huo Xiu Cai Mei Early Life Yao Wuya was born the youngest of seven sons to Yao Wu, a humble farmhand, and Hao Ya, a very fertile woman. His father worked for the Tan Cabbage Farm, located just outside of the Wu City. Like his elder brothers, father, grandfather, and entire family line stretching back as far as could be remembered, Wuya was expected to be a cabbage farmer. Working The Farm At the age of six, he began to work in the field with his family but they quickly became to consider him a nuisance. Wuya was constantly distracted, lost in his own imagination or talking to the other farmhands, and provided little help in his actual job. Seeing he had a natural talent as a salesman, his father decided to let Wuya join him in his forays into the city to pedal his cabbage cart. Wuya proved a quick learner and soon was able to peddle his own successful cabbage cart around the city by the mere age of ten. The Yellow Famine After a sudden cold snap, the Tan Cabbage Farm began an irreversible downward slide as harvests got worse and worse by the year. This threw the Yao family, and all other workers of Xuyanese farms, into destitute poverty. This period greatly hurt the Xuyanese peasantry as a whole, and is considered by scholars to be one of the factor's in the Cult of Yama's rise to power. During this time, four of Wuya's brothers and his mother succumbed to starvation. Wuya, unwilling to end up like his brothers, began a scheme to break into the palace gardens and steal from the plum orchard. He scaled up the palace walls in the dark of night, only to be discovered by Gen and Xiu. He expected a severe punishment from the princes, which only doubled his surprised delight when he was instead invited to dine with the Huo family for dinner. Though the others of the family greatly disapproved, Wuya paid them little mind and ate to his fill for the first time in his young life. When he was unceremoniously told to leave after the Huo's dinner concluded, Wuya vowed to Xiu that he would one day make it up to him for the hospitality the prince had shown him, knowing it had certainly saved his life. It was then that he decided that he never wanted to go hungry again. Adult Life Unlike his childhood, Wuya's adult life is very well-recorded, mostly thanks to his secretary and, later, wife Cai Mei. Wuya spent the next few years of his life seeking the best way to make cabbage appealing to customers. He found it by creating a steamed, cabbage-wrapped street food dripping with soy sauce and filled with more cabbage; the first spring roll. His family was reluctant to meddle with the Tan farm's produce and discouraged him from doing so as well. That didn't stop him, however, from transforming his cabbage cart into a food cart. It quickly became clear that his cabbage creation was an enormous hit and he sold out daily within the first few hours of the morning. Finally, the demand was so great that Wuya used all of his earnings from the food cart to purchase his first restaurant, Juanxincai. It sold nothing but cabbage spring rolls, although he experimented greatly with different types and styles, including even with sweet ingredients. Despite some of the bizarre combinations, it seemed Wuya could do no wrong. His restaurant was enormously successful and Wuya made the daring move to use his earnings to open another, larger restaurant far away in the port city of Haiyang, where cabbages would have to be delivered. Becoming impatient at the lack of speedy delivery from the food caravansaries, Wuya saved up his earnings from Juanxincai and purchased ownership of the Da Che Delivery Company, a small shipping company out of Haiyang which would serve as the backbone for his sprawling company to come. The Da Che Delivery Company faced a great deal of external competition in the port scene of Haiyang, which annoyed Wuya to no end. Every time he purchased a new restaurant---ultimately having over forty in total by the end of his life--he would have to make new contracts and agreements with the larger trade companies of Haiyang just to get his produce and materials. Now quite wealthy off of his many self-sustaining restaurants and the outside Da Che earnings, Wuya made a power play the likes of which Xuyan had never seen before: he started a monopoly. Every time a trade company began to bother him for one reason or another, Wuya would purchase ownership away from the old owners, all while retaining the workers and chain of command. In fact, his growing trade control made it much easier for the companies he purchases to work together and get their jobs done. It soon came to a point that small companies would intentionally fold themselves into the Da Che Delivery Company, soon renamed the Yao Trading Company, in order to reap the benefits like lowered import and export tariffs and greater cooperation between companies. Larger companies often fell to the pressures, as well, mostly initiated by the peasant work force. Never before had one of their own risen to such a powerful and influential position, and then continued to use it for the benefit of his fellow lowborn. Soon, it came to Wuya's attention that he had effectively purchased control of every single trade company in Xuyan, as well as many in Basho and Desc Kauma. Nothing could enter or exit Xuyan without his say so. This, ultimately, is the legend Yao Wuya left behind, in addition to his massive wealth.